What Do We Think About Climate Change

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by Pericles, Feb 19, 2008.

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  1. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    I'm using pretty much the same definition of 'net drain on society' for Alaska that you used for individuals.:)

    And Alaskans have been grabbing federal funds having nothing to do with oil, indigenous people or the military for years, especially Homeland Security funds. I didn't realize how good they had gotten at it, until I started looking it up this morning.

    • Between 2003 and 2007, Wasilla received at least $1.4 million in homeland security grants, including $987,550 from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, for which fire departments apply to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on their own. The state of Alaska received $18.2 million from the assistance to firefighters program between 2002-2008 on top of what it had already won in other homeland security grants.

    • Using $244,500 in funding from the 2005 grant cycle, Wasilla constructed a 100-foot tall communications tower for its small police force. An additional $148,000 came during 2007, to improve law enforcement communications and to raise the new tower 50 feet after the city realized the one it built wasn't tall enough.

    The borough that surrounds Wasilla – Alaska's equivalent of a county jurisdiction – has received at least $2.8 million in grants from the Homeland Security Department over the last five years. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough, or Mat-Su as locals call it, spent nearly $70,000 to install security equipment at two fire stations in Wasilla and also acquired a $410,000 mobile command communications vehicle outfitted with a conference room and an incinerator toilet. It's kept in Wasilla, as is a $427,000 hazardous materials truck the borough purchased that contains a computer program for plotting potentially deadly chemical plumes.

    Wasilla has further enjoyed a windfall of federal money for other public safety purposes outside of Homeland Security Department grants. That amount is more than $5 million since 2006 alone, mostly from earmarks.

    City budget documents show that Wasilla had a total operating budget in 2008 of $13.7 million. But it received for its small police department $986,643 in federal aid for radio repeaters and to outfit its patrol cars with wireless mobile computers, which connect to police headquarters and an emergency dispatch center.

    Records also show that Wasilla was granted $4.2 million in federal earmarks last year from Congress for a pilot broadband communications project designed to link law enforcement and medical personnel together between Wasilla and the Mat-Su Borough allowing them to, among other things, transmit video and audio back and forth. Local officials say the project is one-of-a-kind in the state.

    Wasilla is by no means the only rural, lightly populated Alaska town benefiting from the post-9/11 surge in federal largesse. The city of Whittier located 60 miles southeast of Anchorage has a population of about 175 people. But it boasts of attracting tourists and various cruise lines. It spent $28,400 in federal grants to purchase two SABRE 3000 Anthrax detectors, $24,000 on an "incident command vehicle" and $15,000 for two Kawasaki 4x4 ATVs with winches, state records show.

    There's never been a reported case of Anthrax infection in Alaska history, according to the state's Department of Health and Social Services.

    The western Alaska port city of Bethel, with fewer than 6,000 people, spent $6,287 to buy a "surveillance shotgun listening device," $44,000 on seven ATVs and $22,000 for video surveillance of its water treatment plant.

    The fishing village of Dillingham in southwestern Alaska, which contains about 2,500 people, spent $2,050 on an "impact-resistant door" and $202,000 on a wireless surveillance system that blanketed its downtown and port areas with 80 cameras. The cameras so irked some local residents leery of government intrusion that the longtime mayor who pursued them, Chris Napoli, resigned under persistent criticism in 2006.

    The borough that surrounds Wasilla, Matanuska-Susitna, also benefited from federal funds. It has more governmental responsibility than Wasilla overseeing schools and fire emergencies, for example. It is an area of south central Alaska about the size of West Virginia and has roughly 80,000 people.

    According to an examination of state spending records, of the nearly $3 million it received in Homeland Security grants since 2003, the borough spent $66,200 to install surveillance cameras and a key-card entry system at two fire stations in Wasilla, $25,000 on infrared cameras, $14,277 on four laptops and $2,193 on 15 bullhorns. Borough officials also acquired a $410,000 mobile command communications vehicle specially outfitted with a four-wheel drive chassis to accommodate Alaska's rugged terrain, a conference room with a projector screen and an incinerator toilet, which operates without water.

    Another $60,000 in grant funds was needed to outfit the new truck with interoperable radios that could reach the state's emergency communications system, and $70,769 more was spent installing a satellite system for Internet access and video conferences.


    http://centerforinvestigativereporting.org/tags/sarahpalin

    I'm putting the computer away now; see everyone Monday evening. Enjoy your weekend.
     
  2. wardd
    Joined: Apr 2009
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    wardd Senior Member

    'Sarah Palin's Alaska': one and done? You betcha, says one report.

    Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the former half-term governor of Alaska turned reality TV caribou murderer Sarah Palin will not see her TLC program, 'Sarah Palin's Alaska,' return to the air for a second season.

    Seems she did as well on tv as she did as governor, not to mention as vp.
     
  3. CatBuilder

    CatBuilder Previous Member

    I don't think the GOP even finds that lady to be a viable candidate. She's just a pawn for generating publicity - and it looks like her 15 minutes is nearly up.
     
  4. wardd
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    wardd Senior Member


    for her it was a lucrative 15 minuets
     
  5. cthippo
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    cthippo Senior Member

    They don't find her to be a viable candidate, they find her to be the greatest threat to the GOP brand in a long time. If she runs for the nomination it's going to create a huge circus and if she is nominated no one will take the party seriously for a couple of decades.

    Which means I will will be donating generously to her primary campaign fund :D

    I don't actually have a problem with the grants. With a bargain basement new fire engine running $200,000 and modern SCBAs close to $5,000 these small towns need all the help they can get. Likewise, Alaska has communications challenges not seen in many other areas and so better systems are a benefit to the public. These grants allow smaller public safety agencies to offer reasonable levels of service to their communities, despite their small tax base.

    Oh, wait, that's socialism again, isn't it?
     
  6. mark775

    mark775 Guest

    You guys are idiots. (Read no further - That about sums it up!) First, Sarah only had intentions for one series of shows.
    Second Troy, It is absolutely not the same, giving things to natives to keep them satisfied and in their remote locations rather than deal with their anachronistic, or shall I say "differing" ways and out of society writ large. (not that they wouldn't fit, more that the two societies don't fit that well together). Dillingham and... what'd you say?, Point Hope? No...Bethel. No matter. Notice you didn't say "Nome" or some other non-native town - A big difference there. I really don't know the amount of fed money spent on typical small towns (Wasilla, I assure you, was practically not on the map BSP, Before Sarah Palin) other than that it was probably the fastest growing town in a Alaska in the years you mentioned. Whittier is home to the HydroTrain and is of military and national security significance (the Hydrotrain is a series of large barges brought in tandem from outside. They contain... I'm going way back to when I worked on the Hydrotrain here...something like thirty railcars each and connect to our train system here. Some non-military stuff crosses there but a lot of olive drab, too.
    So, I suppose Wasilla was applying for federal funds in its growing pains, and shouldn't have received anything not having to do with national security. It seems like a lot to me because I pay taxes but is the money Wasilla received out of line with what other similar places receive? Was it cherry-picked because you found one of your liberal sources doing investigative reporting to find things wrong with Alaska, in general, and Wasilla, in particular,because Sarah is from there? Everything else you mention is delineating my point exactly.
    In short, there is not a lot of "stuff" in Alaska. We've got less road system than any other state though we are nearly as big as all of the outside states combined. The improved parks (parking lots, groomed trails, bathrooms) are state parks. An occasional port facility, arguably for national security, and nothing else. I don't think you get this place. There is not a lot of "stuff". Education, schools? That's your's, the Feds, and the state's bag. Yes, it is more expensive to have a school in the middle of nowhere than it is in a place of existing infrastructure. I wouldn't have any public schools anyway, so don't blame me! At least we don't have this $578M monument to failed government largesse:
    539w.jpg
    Yes, that is a school. You can learn anything from Korean "community union" to hip hop, rap, whatever they call that **** (mathematics, sciences? I'm not so sure...). From the school's introductory page, 50% of the students are "English language learners" (read "largely illegal"), and 89% are low-income. Yes they say it is being payed for by a bond levy on the user group...Uh huh.
    None of this addresses the net monetary contribution of a lower income individual. The bottom half of the wage-earners (including those who earn no wages) are a net drain on society. There can be no argument there. They receive more than they give - by the government's own numbers! You progressives are so miotic, you now qualify "worth" with gardening ability? I'm sorry, I never intended to imply that we don't have a place for low wage earners...It's just that in this aspect, "do they take in more dollars than they pay?" the answer is unmitigated, and "yes".
    Moving on to California... (Did you mention something about $28,000 "here", $66,000 "there" in Wasilla?) Let's make this short and brutally F'ing (bitter)sweet:
    The latest report, http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/bonds/debt/201008/authorized.pdf, from current state Treasurer Bill Lockyer says the state now has $77.8 billion in outstanding general obligation bonds and an additional $42.8 in authorized but unissued bonds. (That's Billions - with a "B"!) General obligation bonds must be paid from revenues coming from the state's general fund. The state doesn't take in that kind of money. There are pensions and a declining revenue base that are going to meet at the point of insolvency. There is not enough **** to sell in California to pay off what is owed and what will be owed. What next - selling off government buildings like Arizona so that you can continue spending like Baracks on payday? Give me a break! California will drag this country to its knees.
     
  7. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    So Troy brought us down to his level and beat us with experience?
     
  8. mark775

    mark775 Guest

    "...that's socialism again, isn't it?" Yes, it is.
    The more I hear the loony left make fun of Sarah Palin, the more I think I need to throw my full support behind her. There are some conservatives that don't like her or yet trust her. Let's see..who would she have to beat? Not Barack (my cat could beat that idiot now), maybe Hillary or Joe Biden? John Edwards? John Kerry? This is going to be fun!
     
  9. wardd
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    wardd Senior Member


    send her all your money, she'll take it
     
  10. mark775

    mark775 Guest

    I consider the woman very Reaganesque. I guess it depends upon what direction you want the country to go...Further down the shithole of socialism and corruption or towards the pride and prosperity of the Reagan era. If there is a more suitable Republican candidate than Sarah, I'll be all for him! Right now, unless Chris Christie runs, there is nobody else. (And I have a problem with him...if a person cannot control his own weight, how can he be entrusted to important matters of others? He is doing a good job, however)
     
  11. wardd
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    wardd Senior Member

    i don't remember prosperity under reagan

    i remember a lot of layoffs

    and spending like a drunken sailor
     
  12. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    Bah!:rolleyes::mad:
     
  13. Boston

    Boston Previous Member

    Ole Sarwa would gaff herself right out of the race in no time. Put her in the limelight and watch the show begin. I kinda can't wait. I think if Hillary would learn some oratory skills she could win assuming Obummer doesn't go for a second term. At which point the Dems are in trouble and any old horses *** could will against then.

    my two cents
    oh
    I'd almost register as a republican if it meant helping ole Sarwa get on the ticket, great way to ensure that the republicans loose. I think the Dems need to come up with a dark horse ( no pun intended ) and present a fresh face with some actual idears
     
  14. mark775

    mark775 Guest

    Yeah, "dark horse" - that's the *******, methinks!
    "I'd almost register as a republican if it meant helping ole Sarwa get on the ticket, great way to ensure that the republicans loose." That's how the Dems got McCain in in the primary, it's a long-time Democrat strategy.
    Obama CAN'T go for a second term - He will not survive the primary - unless it's a pity ff-ff- forfeiture by Hillary - Can't imagine that old carbuncle waiting untill '16, though.
    Actually, I think we should put McCain up again. That will be good for America.
     

  15. Boston

    Boston Previous Member

    I dont think any of them have a clue
    they are all just in it for self aggrandizement and payola
    after all we are talking about politicians

    hang em high and leave the corpses for the crows
     
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